I can give the 'canned'/widely accepted info, or my personal opinion based on my own experiences and what I've seen. I'm going with the latter, because you can read the former anywhere!
As some of you probably know by now, i'm not a fan of simple carbs PWO, particularly with a cutting
diet . Ingesting simple carbs will quickly raise blood glucose levels and trigger a big
insulin release. When taken along with
protein (which IMO always should be), the glucose, amino's and other nutrients are 'swept up' and shuttled into depleted muscle cells.
That's all well and good when we believe that the muscles are ABSOLUTELY STARVED of
nutrition and MUST be replenished immediately.
Fig 1.
The aim of simple carbs post workout is not to replenish starved muscle the main goal is to maximize protein synthesis, which is likely accomplished using quickly absorbed carbohydrates which greatly elevates insulin levels compaired to low GI carbohydrates. Glycogen restoration is all too easy to achieve and is little to be concerned with post workout.
I don't subscribe to that theory however. I am also not in the business of selling
supplements /
protein powders to people. There are studies that show the '
anabolic window' PWO actually increases (
protein synthesis, nutrient uptake) several hours PWO... contrary to the accepted mantra that 'after 1 hour it magically shuts'. As such, complex carbs will also cause an
insulin release, but in a much more controlled manner, keeping blood glucose levels more stable and regulated.
See above This, to me, is a better option vs. spiking
insulin ... then crashing an hour later... which ALWAYS happened to me.
Usually our catecholamine response should be enough to keep out blood sugar elevated without problems. If you find you crash hard you could have some carbs ready just in case just a thought. I would crash so hard, I actually went to the dr. to be checked for hypoglycemia (this was years ago). Also, if you go along with the idea of the
anabolic window being MORE sensitive several hours PWO, it would make more sense to use complex carbs as they will burn slower and benefit you longer.
See Fig 1.
When I was running my IF
diet , I was training fasted (BCAA's only), and STILL delaying my PWO meal for several hours (simply because I
workout at 5:30am, and want my 8 hour feeding window to end right before going to bed at night). Based on the 'muscle starving PWO' theory, I should have been catabolic as hell.
Fig 2.
Muslce starving theory is BS you can have elevated protein systhesis and insuling sensitivity for up to 24 hours after training.
Tipton and colleagues (2003) examined responsiveness of protein synthesis for a day after a workout, and found it to reflect a 24 hour enhanced level.
The more common response to strength training is an increase in insulin sensitivity (Fujitani et al., 1998; Miller et al, 1984), and brand new data show even the acute effect from a single bout lasts for over 24 hours (Koopman et al., 2005).
Not only skipping PWO
nutrition , but having trained FASTED - 16 hours!! Well, quite the opposite. I had some of the most intense training sessions of my life, and got stronger with each
workout . Literally beat the previous week's record, every week. That's enough to convince me.
One last thing on this (I know i'm rambling/digressing now) - some people do fine with simple carbs PWO. People like me who were overweight for 15 years probably don't. I made myself
insulin resistant during those years, so a bunch of sugar welled up in my bloodstream isn't going to benefit me. Even for people who do well with simple carbs PWO, I am not a fan of ingesting pure sugar - i.e. dextrose, maltodextrin, etc. I'd suggest 50/50 simple/complex, with the simple carbs coming from fruits.
Strictly bodybuilding speaking the main goal post workout is to spike blood amino concentrations with the use of free form amino acids or other sources of fast digesting protein from a highly bioavailable source. Also the use of including fast acting carbs to help assist with it's insulin pro effects on protein synthesis. But, as you have found gb the simple carbs are too hard on your blood sugar levels which makes a good case for you to add the complex carbs. Also don't forget to avoid fat intake post workout guys, we don't want the fat slowing down digestion.
I would just like to add that I think post workout nutrition is way over hyped, the first meal of the day is the most important in my opinion.